Intel providing chip technology to startup in rare deal

SAN FRANCISCO: Intel is providing access to some of its processor technology to a new startup, according to a source and documents reviewed by Reuters, in a rare move for the US chipmaker.

Intel chief executive officer (CEO) Lip-Bu Tan and the startup’s boss are longtime co-investors.

The startup, RosaicLabs Inc, filed its first Delaware incorporation documents in May, according to a certificate of incorporation from the state.

Reuters could not locate a web page or LinkedIn profile for the company, as is common with early-stage chip startups operating in secrecy.

Rosaic’s CEO is Amarjit Gill, according to an amended filing in July, a seasoned venture capital investor and chip industry executive who helped Tan build the founding team at another chip company called Rivos, which Meta acquired last year, outbidding Intel.

Tan was chairman of Rivos at the time.

Tan and Gill both made seed-stage investments in a third chip startup called Nuvia, which was sold to Qualcomm.

Rosaic’s founding team includes veterans from Rivos, according to a source briefed on the matter and the documents.

Amit Parikh, the former finance chief at Rivos, signed the incorporation document.

Furthermore, Intel is providing Rosaic access to its Atom technology, the building blocks of central processors, which run on the company’s x86 architecture, the source said.

Providing access to Rosaic is a rare move by Intel, which has historically not widely licensed pieces of its x86 architecture or provided Atom tech.

Intel aims to ship register-transfer level code for the Atom processor tech to the startup, which designers use to describe chip functions, the source said. — Reuters